Male Bonding
by InosBane
Summary: While Kankuro is in Konoha for a teaching exchange, he and Shikamaru bond.  Implied ShikaTema, references an event in The Mission. NOT slash


A/N: **Rosemary** is for Rememberance.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing in this story except for Rosemary, I have two different kinds in my garden.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Kankuro's head hurt. No, this was more than a mere "hurt", this was the piercing agony that only Karasu's blades could bring about. On second thought, his puppet couldn't even cause pain like this. This was the work of a demon, this was the work of sake.

He knew he should have stopped after four. He **would** have stopped after four if it hadn't been for that damn pineapple-headed boyfriend of his sister's. The cocky little Shadow Nin had challenged him, and well...if it weren't for the fact that Temari loved the baka he'd have let loose with Kuroari. As it was, he'd accepted the challenge. He'd won of course, but that thought didn't make him smile. Smiling hurt.

He consoled himself with the fact that Pineapple Boy was in worse shape than he was. At least, that's what one would assume if the violent retching coming from the bathroom was any indication. He wanted to at least smirk, but the needles in his face wouldn't allow it. Once he realized that a** mental** smirk was possible, not to mention just as satisfying as the real thing, he felt better. So he lay on the couch mentally smirking and listening to Shikamaru sing praises to the porcelain god.

Kankuro silently thanked all that was holy and unholy that he was off of the misson roster while on this teaching exchange. **HE** didn't have to report to the academy for three more days. Shikamaru, on the other hand, (**big fat mental smirk**) had to leave on a mission that very afternoon!

Eventually the retching stopped. Kankuro heard the toilet flush and the water run. When he heard the bathroom door open, he cracked half an eye open. Damn! That hurt.

There stood his sister's one true love. Pale as a ghost and hanging onto the doorframe for dear life. His hair in no way resembled a pineapple. In fact, it was hanging in his face as he made his way weakly into the hall.

"Kankuro," he gasped. "Of the three Sabaku's, I thought you'd be the least likely to kill me. Now I see I was wrong. You just wanted to torture me first didn't you?"

Kankuro tried to laugh, but it hurt too much. He started to remind the kid who challenged whom, but before he'd even come close to opening his mouth, Pineapple Boy made a beeline back to the bathroom where the retching noises resumed. Kankuro mentally smirked again while attempting to go back to sleep.

o-o-o

When Kankuro regained consciousness a few hours later, he felt a wee bit better. At least the needles were gone from his eyes. He gingerly stepped into the kitchen where he found Shikamaru face down on the table groaning.

"Hey brother, have you eaten anything?"

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Came the reply.

"I'm going to make some black coffee and dry toast." He whispered.

Shikamaru said nothing, but waved his hand in a "do as you will" fashion.

Kankuro went about preparing things as quietly as possible. Shikamaru continued to groan occasionally and from time to time muttered softly to himself. While pouring coffee grounds into a filter, Kankuro heard his sister's name whispered by the shadow user. He stopped, looking at Shikamaru for a minute. His face was lax and he was drooling on the table. He'd fallen asleep.

"No Temari," he groaned softly. "Stop that, you'll leave marks."

Smirking, Kankuro decided to have a little fun.

"But Shika," he did a horrible imitation of Temari's voice. "You like it when I leave marks."

"No," Pineapple Boy mumbled. "It's green and dripping everywhere, leave it alone."

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! What the hell? It took every ounce of discipline that Kankuro possessed to not slap the sleeping Shinobi in the head. Thoroughly disturbed now, he went back to making coffee and toast, trying desperately to purge the disturbing mental image by being domestic.

o-o-o

When everything was ready, he nudged Shikamaru awake. To his credit, pineapple boy managed two pieces of toast and a cup of coffee before eyeing Kankuro.

"It might be er...less troublesome if we don't share details of last night with Temari."

Kankuro nodded his agreement.

"Something tells me it'd be more my ass on the line than yours," the Puppet Nin said taking a sip of coffee.

Shikamaru chewed on his toast while he thought about that statement.

"Of course, she may find out about it anyways," he shrugged. "Konoha is the hidden village where nothing stays hidden for long."

As if to drive home the truth of that statement, there was a sudden pounding on the door. They both groaned at the offensive noise before Kankuro, who was closest went to see who it was.

Inuzuka Kiba and Uzumaki Naruto were standing on the landing with Kiba's enormous white dog, Akamaru. They bounded in, full of the hyper energy that comes from **not** having a hangover.

Kiba nodded grinning at Kankuro before walking over to Shikamaru and slapping him on the shoulder.

"Hey man! Ready to go scope out Kusa no Kuni?"

Shikamaru grabbed the sides of his head and closed his eyes.

"A little quieter if you don't mind," he hissed.

"Hey Kankuro!" Naruto grinned. The glare from his white teeth caused Kankuro to squint. "How're you guys feeling this morning? Saw ya last night stumbing around. Looked like you were feeling no pain."

"Yeah, well every action has an equal and opposite reaction." Shikamaru replied from the kitchen, hands still clutching his skull.

Naruto looked confused but Kiba smiled.

"Thought so. That's why I brought you guys this." He pulled a bottle of sake out of his pocket. Shikamaru glared at him until he explained. "Hair of the dog that bit ya."

Akamaru looked around.

Kiba grabbed four glasses from a cupboard and put a small amount of clear liquid in each.

"To male bonding!" He exclaimed, downing the contents of his glass. Naruto followed suit. Shikamaru and Kankuro shrugged, "To male bonding," they said with much less enthusiasm than their comrades.

After awhile, with a little more food in their stomachs and a tiny bit more hair of the dog, they started to feel better. Shikamaru was at least able to put his hair up without wincing. He handed his keys to Kankuro who would be staying in the apartment while he was gone.

"Don't forget to water the plant," he told Kankuro. "Temari will kill me if it dies."

Kiba and Naruto said goodbye. Kankuro told them to bring Shikamaru back alive or Temari would kill them all. No one, including Kankuro, knew if he was kidding or not, so they nodded and hurried after the Shadow Nin.

After closing the door, Kankuro walked over to the small rosemary plant by the window. He knew how badly Temari would be hurt if it died. He also knew how badly Temari would hurt Shikamaru if it died.

He got a glass out of the cupboard, filled it with water and poured it into the soil. He inhaled it's scent and smiled. Maybe Temari would be happy to know that they'd bonded afterall.

o-o-o**OWARI**o-o-o


End file.
